Methods and apparatus for watermarking and distributing watermarked content

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for generating and distributing watermarked content are described. Content to be distributed is sliced into a plurality of segments, e.g., short portions. Individual segments are subjected to watermarking with multiple watermarked versions of a segment being generated. Different watermarked versions of a segment communicate different information, e.g., one or more numbers. Sets of watermarked segments corresponding to a program are supplied to a content distribution device. Based on a session number or other information corresponding to the destination of the content, the content distribution device selects watermarked segments from the sets of segments to provide to the user. The combination of segments communicates, via the watermarks, a sequence of numbers used to identify the streamed content without requiring the distribution node to perform image processing to generate the watermarks. When the segments are communicated sequentially, the watermarks can be detected and the identifying numerical sequence extracted.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/493,727, filed Jun. 6, 2011 which is herebyexpressly incorporated by reference.

FIELD

The present invention relates to watermarking of content and/or thedistribution of watermarked content, e.g., digital video and/or audiocontent such as, for example, movies, television programs, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Video is normally a sequence of images, e.g., video frames. Digitaltelevision commonly refers to the digital representation of a rapidsequence of digitized photographic images, e.g., video, or parts thereofin synchronization with one or more digitized audio streams. The streamsmay be broadcast, as with live programming and many television programs,or played back from a digital recording on a per user basis as with thecurrent Video On Demand (VOD) technology.

The storage of digital television images has converged on the use of theMotion Picture Expert Group (MPEG)'s standards. The standardizationallowed for tremendous industry growth in the sale and distribution ofdigital television.

When digital television is distributed there is often a need to injectadvertisements periodically. It is also necessary to inject differentadvertisements to different viewers as some advertisements may not begeographically relevant to some groups. E.g. advertisements for anautomotive shop that is 900 miles away. In order to not have to manuallystop the transmission of the primary video, play the advertisement, andthen restart the primary video, a mechanism known as a playlist hasevolved.

Prior to transmitting video content to a given geographic area, theprimary video content will be sectioned in locations whereadvertisements wish to be shown. The location of each section is thenplaced in an array with the locations of the desired advertising videoinserted between the locations of sections of primary content. Theentire array is then sent to a video server which transmits the piecesof content in order. The end effect is that the viewer of the programexperiences a seamless presentation of video with interspersedadvertisements. One can see that this mechanism affords greatflexibility as the location description for different advertisements maybe swapped out each time the video is played or when it needs to be sentto geographically distant locations.

When video content is distributed via an MPEG stream or an IPencapsulated MPEG stream, it is often referred to as streaming media.The data that is the digital representation of the television image isoften referred to as digital content or digital media. In order toprotect copyright owners, various techniques for the encryption,watermarking, or fingerprinting of digital media have come into play.Collectively, these technologies are called Digital Rights Management(DRM) mechanisms.

Digital encryption is a process in which the series of numbers that makeup the digital television content, e.g., pixel values used to representa frame, are run through an encryption program. The encryption is suchthat the receiver of the data has access to the encryption key and maydecrypt the content so that it may be viewed.

Along with digital encryption, industry has developed various methods toidentify a copyrighted work by numerical analysis of the content.Developers have invented numerous mechanisms to extract the uniquecharacteristics of the content such that their algorithms produce aunique digital signature for each different piece of content. The uniquedigital signature is often referred to as a digital fingerprint.

Digital watermarking embeds a unique identifier within digital content.Very elaborate mechanisms have evolved including those that modify thecompression coefficients of the digital content or even modifying thelast few significant bits of the individual frames such that theycontain sequences of identifiable numbers. Some watermarking techniquesalter pixel values of images providing luminance and/or chrominanceinformation thereby slightly altering an image in a manner that isdifficult or impossible to detect with the naked eye but which can bedetected and interpreted as a numerical value or sequence of values fromdigital analysis of the image data.

One issue with the application of digital watermarks is the need forenormous computational resources in order to add the watermark in such afashion so that it goes undetected by those who wish to defeat it. Forexample, to embed a number within an image as minor image luminescencechanges within the horizontal and vertical confines of the image mayrequire the complete decoding of the image, the application of atransform used to introduce the desired watermark, and the re-encodingof the content on a frame by frame basis. When streaming thousands ofvideos per day, the cost of the watermarking equipment which would berequired to watermarking individual frames of each video stream, byaltering image content within a frame in real time, can becomeexorbitant.

In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there isa need for improved methods and apparatus for introducing informationthrough the use of watermarks into video streams. It should beappreciated that there could be significant cost savings and reductionsin hardware requirements if methods and/or apparatus could be developedwhich would avoid the need for altering image content, e.g., frames, forwatermarking purposes at the time the frames are streamed. While notnecessary for all embodiments, it would be highly desirable ifwatermarking equipment used to alter images, e.g., frames, was notrequired at individual distribution sites but could be located at acentralized or regional location used to supply content to contentstores from which content could be streamed, e.g., on demand.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments are directed to methods and apparatus for generatingcontent streams, e.g., video content streams, communicating informationthrough the use of watermarks and for supplying the generated contentstreams to user devices, e.g., customer premise devices.

In one exemplary embodiment, the system includes a watermarkingapparatus, and at least one streaming apparatus with access to a contentstore including watermarked content. The streaming apparatus in turn iscoupled to one or more receivers, e.g., user devices such as set topboxes, mobile devices and/or televisions, via a communications networksuch as a cable network.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the watermarking apparatusis incorporated into a content distribution node, e.g., a package mediagateway, that supplies content to a plurality of different regionalcontent stores from which the content is distributed. The content storesmay be located at, e.g., cable network headend offices which serve asregional distribution sites from which content is streamed, e.g., inresponse to one or more user requests for content. The requests forcontent may, and in some embodiments are, video on-demand (VOD)requests.

The methods and apparatus of the present invention allow video contentto be pre-watermarked and combined in such a manner that the combinationof watermarked content which is streamed provides information which canbe used to identify the location to which the content is being streamedand, in some cases, identify the communications session in which thecontent is being supplied. Significantly, the content identificationmethods of the present invention may be implemented without the use ofan image watermarking apparatus at the content distribution system whichstreams the content and without the need to perform complex imageprocessing, e.g., decoding, image manipulation and re-encoding of aframe, at the site from which content is streamed. In fact, the methodsand apparatus of present invention allow a watermarking apparatus to beshared between a large number of regional distribution systems sincereal time watermarking of image content at the time of content streamingto a customer premise is not required.

In accordance with one feature of the present invention, thewatermarking apparatus slices video content into multiple sections,referred to as segments, and then produces multiple copies of eachsection. A segment in some embodiments is a frame or set of frames. Thewatermarking apparatus watermarks each segment with a unique identifier.Thus, multiple differently watermarked versions of each content segmentare produced via the slicing, copying and watermarking operations. As aresult of the watermarking operation, for each program or piece ofcontent a set of watermarked content is produced. The set of watermarkedcontent includes a plurality of segments. In one embodiment a set ofdifferently watermarked segments is provided in the set of watermarkedcontent for each segment of a piece of content.

A streaming apparatus may receive a request from a user for videocontent and respond by generating a session identifier or anotheridentifier. In some embodiments the identifier is a unique streamsession ID. Based on the generated identifier, the streaming apparatusgenerates a list of the elements, e.g., watermarked segments, that makeup a complete copy of the requested video. The list of elements to bestreamed includes one watermarked copy of each segment of the requestedvideo with the particular watermarked copy of the segment being selectedbased on the identifier value to be indicated by the watermarkscommunicated by the sequence of selected watermarked segments.

Thus, the sequence of numbers communicated by the watermarks of theselected segments, represent and/or otherwise communicate the identifiercorresponding to the session used to stream the requested content. Thelist of elements may be in the form of a playlist which identifies whichwatermarked segments are to be streamed and the order in which they areto be streamed.

As part of the content streaming process, the streaming apparatusoutputs one of the watermarked segments from each of the sets ofdifferently watermarked segments corresponding to the requested contentthereby providing a single copy of the content but with a combination ofwatermarked segments which communicate information, e.g., a sequence ofnumerical values via the watermarks.

Note that the session ID is one example of information that may becommunicated. The sequence of watermarks can be used to communicate anytype of data desired. For example, in some embodiments the sequence ofwatermarks is used to communicate the ID of the organization streamingthe content, the geographic area the content is streamed to, and/or atime stamp indicating when the requested content was streamed and/or theparticular customer device to which the content was streamed.

One or more embodiments may have one or more of the following advantagesor capabilities:

-   -   allowing content distributors to watermark each stream of        content with a different watermark without the need for large,        expensive computational resources;    -   allowing content distributors to watermark streams by geographic        area.    -   allowing for easy modification of the information that is        watermarked in the content; and/or    -   allowing for a lower cost modification of the watermarking        mechanism by having to purchase fewer watermarking devices that        if each individual stream were watermarked “on-the-fly.”

An exemplary content distribution method, implemented in accordance withthe invention, comprises, in some embodiments: receiving N watermarkedversions of a first content segment, each of the N watermarked versionsof the first content segment including a different watermark, N being apositive integer greater than 1; receiving M watermarked versions of asecond content segment, each of the M watermarked versions of the secondcontent segment including a different watermark, M being a positiveinteger greater than 1; and providing, in response to a request forcontent, a sequence of watermarked content segments including one ofsaid N watermarked versions of the first content segment and one of saidM watermarked versions of the second content segment, the sequence ofwatermarked content segments communicating a corresponding sequence ofwatermarks providing information identifying content supplied inresponse to said request for content. The content distribution methodmay be implemented by a headend or other node or distribution pointwhich receives the sets of watermarked versions of content segments froma watermarking system.

In some embodiments the watermarking system is implemented as part of acontent distribution node, such as a package media gateway thatdistributes content to multiple regional headend offices for subsequentdistribution to customer premises.

In addition to streaming content with watermarks, the system of thepresent invention generates a database with watermark information and arecord of what content was streamed and when. From the record it ispossible to subsequently associate a sequence of numbers communicated bya watermarked content that is streamed with information identifying aparticular communications session and the device to which the contentwas streamed. This facilitates identification of users and/or systemswhich may have been used to copy and distribute content in violation ofdigital rights and/or contractual restrictions on the use anddistribution of the streamed content.

While the methods and apparatus of the present invention are well suitedfor generating watermarks for prerecorded content, e.g., movies and/orother content from a on-demand content library, the techniques can alsobe used with real time broadcasts, e.g., broadcasts which aretransmitted while the original live event is still ongoing. In the caseof real time broadcasts the real time broadcasts are often transmittedwith some previously recorded content being inserted between portions ofthe real time broadcast and/or portions of the images included in thereal time broadcast being generated from previously recorded content.For example, pre-recorded advertisements or logos may, and in someembodiments are, inserted into the real time broadcasts. In accordancewith the invention, in some embodiments multiple watermarked versions ofthe advertisements, logos and/or other pre-recorded content to becombined with the real time content is created prior to the broadcast.Thus, at least in some embodiments multiple differently watermarkedversions of one or more advertisements or logos are created, e.g., withthe differently watermarked versions of an advertisement or logocommunicating different numbers. The prerecorded watermarked content isselectively combined with the real time broadcast, e.g., on the fly atthe time of the real time broadcast. For example, one of multipledifferently watermarked copies of a series of advertisements may, and insome embodiments are, inserted between the frames of a real timebroadcast. The sequence of watermarked values communicated by theinserted series of advertisements can, and in some embodiments does,serve to identify the real time broadcast stream without having toactually watermark the real time content, e.g., sports content, as thereal time images are generated.

The same technique can be applied to logos or other content which isgenerated prior to the real time event. Multiple differently watermarkedversions of multiple logos or images are combined, in some embodiments,with the real time images. By selecting which copy of a watermarked logoor image is combined with the real time content, the previouslygenerated watermark is incorporated into one or more real time imageswithout having to generate the watermark in real time.

In various embodiments, the sequence of watermarks coveys a number orother identification information which can be used to identify the realtime content broadcast on a per stream basis without having to generatethe watermarks for each of the different streams in real time. Thus, byusing conventional advertisement and/or logo insertion techniques and aplurality of differently watermarked versions of advertisements or logosto be inserted, watermarking of real time content streams is possibleusing the methods of the present invention without having to provide theability to generate watermarks in real time. Thus one or a few centrallylocated watermarking apparatus can be used to support watermarking of alarge number of content streams by generating watermarked advertisementsand/or logos prior to the real time broadcast.

While it is possible to watermark each frame or image of a contentstream, it should be appreciated that it is not necessary to do so andthat including watermarks in a subset of the images or frames issatisfactory in many implementations. The number of different watermarksgenerated for each frame or segment can vary and need not be the samefor an entire program. Furthermore different portions of a contentstream can communicate different watermark sequences. For example,advertisements within a broadcast may communicate one sequence ofwatermarks while the main program may communicate a different sequenceof watermarks. Thus, it should be appreciated that different sets offrames and/or images may be treated as corresponding to or communicatingdifferent sets or sequences of watermarked values. For example, oddframes could correspond to one sequence or set of watermarkedinformation and even frames to another sequence of watermarkedinformation.

The sequence of values communicated by the selection and inclusion ofwatermarked versions of a frame or image may repeat within a program sothat all or a portion of a identification sequence communicated throughthe use of watermarks may be conveyed using relatively few frames and/orcan be repeated multiple times throughout a program or other piece ofstreamed content.

Numerous additional features and advantages of the present invention arediscussed in the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 implemented in accordancewith one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary package mediagateway illustrating some functions and/or operations performed by theexemplary package media gateway or one or more elements therein, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary package media gateway implemented inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example showing an exemplary watermarkingoperation performed on an individual content segment corresponding tosome content received by a package media gateway, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating acontent watermarking and distribution device, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary content delivery and distribution systemimplemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a portion of the exemplary headend of FIG. 6 ingreater detail.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary content distributionmethod, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a drawing illustrating the concept of slicing content, andlogically interlacing the content segments with advertising content inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary applicationserver, e.g., a video on-demand (VOD) application server, in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary VOD application server implemented inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary playlist of watermarked contentsegments generated in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary table including information regardingthe timing of content streaming to customers and information associatedwith the customers to whom the content is streamed.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary table which may be used to matchparticular distributors, areas and times to numerical values which canbe communicated using watermarks, in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 implemented in accordancewith one exemplary embodiment of the invention. The exemplary systemincludes one or more subsystems which may be physically located atdifferent locations. The one or more subsystems shown in the system 100communicate and/or exchange information over one or more communicationsnetwork, e.g., cable network, internet etc.

The system 100 includes a plurality of content suppliers 102 through 106as shown. The content suppliers 102 through 106 supply content, e.g.,movies and/or other programming content to a distribution contentprocessing system including an exemplary package media gateway (PMG)108. The PMG 108 includes a watermarking apparatus that performs acontent segmentation and a watermarking operation on the contentreceived from one or more content suppliers, in accordance with theinvention. The operations and processing performed by the exemplary PMG108 is discussed later in greater detail. Following the processingperformed by the PMG 108, the watermarked content (shown as WM content)is distributed to a plurality of regional distributions systemsincluding headend 1 corresponding to region 1 110, headend 2corresponding to region 2 112, . . . , headend J corresponding to regionJ 119. The headends 110 through 119 store the received WM content intheir respective content stores 111 through 115 respectively. Eachheadend includes a content store and corresponding streaming apparatus(111, 121) (113, 123) (115, 125). The streaming apparatus as will bediscussed below may include a VOD application sever for generatingplaylists of watermarked content segments and a content server, e.g.,VOD server, for streaming content in accordance with the generatedplaylists.

The exemplary system 100 further includes a plurality of customer siteswith customer premises (CP) corresponding to the plurality of regionalservice provider systems, i.e., headends 110 through 119. The first set116 of customer premises correspond to customers served by region 1headend 110. The first set 116 includes a plurality of customerspremises including CP 1 122 through CP L 124. The set 118 of customerpremises correspond to customers served by region 2 headend 112. The set118 includes a plurality of customers premises including CP 1 126through CP P 128. Similarly the set 120 of customer premises correspondto customers served by region J headend 119. The set 120 includes aplurality of customers premises including CP 1 130 through CP Q 132.Thus each regional service provider system, e.g., headend 110, 112, . .. 119, provides services, e.g., content delivery services, via acommunications network, to a corresponding set of customer premiseswhich correspond to the region serviced by the particular headend. Inaccordance with one aspect of the invention, each headend forms asequence of watermarked versions of content segments received from thePMG 108, and supplies the sequence of watermarked content segments toone or more customers premises which correspond to the region servicedby the particular headend. In various embodiments the sequence ofwatermarked content segments is supplied by a headend to a customerpremise device, e.g., a set top box, in response to a request forcontent from the customer.

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional diagram 200 illustrating some functionsand/or operations performed by an exemplary package media gateway (PMG)200 or one or more elements of the PMG 200, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. The package media gateway 200 can be usedas the PMG 108 illustrated in FIG. 1 example. The exemplary PMG 200includes a file receiving module 202, a content slicer module 204, awatermarking module 206, a metadata processing module 208, contentstorage 210, a file output module 212, and an I/O (input/output)interface 214. In accordance with one aspect of some embodiments the PMG200 operates as a content watermarking and distribution device whichdistributes watermarked content segments to a plurality of regionalcontent distribution systems, e.g., regional headends. The content slice204 and watermarking module 207, in combination, form a watermarkingsystem 207. In various embodiments such as the one shown in FIG. 2, thePMG 200 performs slicing, watermarking, and distribution of content oneor more content store, e.g., located at network headends.

In accordance with one aspect of some embodiments the PMG 200 receivescontent, e.g., corresponding to one or more movies and/or programs, fromat least one content supplier, e.g., supplier 102. The content from theat least one supplier 102 is received and processed by the filereceiving module 202. In some embodiments the received content istemporarily stored in the content storage 210. It should be appreciatedthat the received content may, and normally does, include some contentwhich is to be watermarked and other content which does not have to bewatermarked.

The content slicer module 204 is responsible for slicing the receivedcontent which is to be watermarked into content segments in accordancewith the invention. In some embodiments the content slicer module 204accesses the received content stored in the storage 210 and performs asegmentation operation to a plurality of segments of the receivedcontent to be watermarked. In one embodiment the plurality of contentsegments include at least a first content segment and a second contentsegment.

The content segments are then fed individually to the watermarkingmodule 206 to generate sets of watermarked versions of each individualcontent segment. Thus in some embodiments the watermarking module 206generates a set of watermarked versions of each individual contentsegment. An exemplary set of watermarked versions of an individualcontent segment 1 is illustrated in FIG. 4.

The metadata processing module 208 identifies and processes the metadataassociated with the received content. In some embodiments the metadatais embedded in the received content. The metadata processing moduleextracts the metadata and performs processing to put the metadata in aformat suitable for sending (as shown using arrow 220) to one or moreapplication servers corresponding to one or more different regionalheadends such as headends 110 through 114. The file output module 212 insome embodiments performs processing on the watermarked content segmentsproduced by the watermarking module 206 to put the watermarked contentsegments in a format suitable for being distributed (as shown usingarrow 222) to one or more content stores corresponding to one or moreregional headends, e.g., headends 110 through 114.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary package media gateway (PMG) 300implemented in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Theexemplary PMG 300 can be used as the PMG 108 or 200 illustrated in FIGS.1 and 2. As illustrated, the PMG 300 includes a processor 302, an I/Ointerface 304 including a receiver 308 and a transmitter 310, and amemory 312 coupled together by a bus 309. Via the I/O interface 304 thePMG 300 can receive and/or send information including, e.g., content,information, signals etc. The I/O interface 304 includes the receiver308 which is responsible for receiving and processing content, e.g.,content corresponding to a movie and/or some other program content. Thetransmitter module 310 is responsible for outputting watermarked contentsegments for distribution to one or more regional headends, generatingand sending signals and/or other information. Both the receiver 308 andtransmitter 310 may work under direction of the processor 302 whichexecutes one or more of the routines and/or modules included in memory312. Received content 326 is the content received from at least onecontent supplier. In some embodiments the received content 326 includessome content which is to be watermarked and other content which does nothave to be watermarked.

The memory 312 includes application server control routines 314 whichcontrol overall operations of the PMG 300 in accordance with theinvention. Control routines 314 may operate in conjunction with variousmodules which are used to perform various functions. Modules included inthe memory 312 include a file receiving module 316, a metadataprocessing module 318, a content slicer module 320, a watermarkingmodule 322, a file output module 324, stored received content 326 andsets of watermarked content segments 328.

In accordance with one aspect of some embodiments the file receivingmodule 316 receives content through the I/O interface 304 and puts thereceived content in a format suitable for further processing to beperformed on the received content by one or more other modules inaccordance with the invention. For example in some embodiments the filereceiving module 316 processes the received content 326 and separatelyidentifies content which is to be watermarked and the content which isnot to be watermarked.

The content slicer module 320 performs the operations discussed withregard to content slicer module 204 in the FIG. 2 example. The contentsegments are then fed individually to the watermarking module 322 whichgenerates sets of watermarked versions of each individual contentsegment. The watermarking module 322 performs the operations discussedwith regard to module 206 in the FIG. 2 example. The generated sets 328of watermarked versions of content segments is an output of thewatermarking module 322. Metadata processing module 318 performs theoperations discussed earlier with regard to module 208 while the fileoutput module 324 performs the operations discussed earlier with regardto module 212.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example 400 showing watermarking operationperformed on an individual content segment 1 402 corresponding to somecontent received by the PMG 200, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. It should be appreciated that a single content segment isshown in the example for discussion purposes, in the process, thewatermarking operation is performed on each of the individual contentsegments. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, content segment 1 402 iswatermarked with different hexadecimal numbers from 0 to F.

As illustrated the digital content segment 1 402 is subjected to awatermarking operation, e.g., performed by the watermarking module 206.In the watermarking operation the individual content segment 1 402 iscopied, e.g., 16 times, to generate 16 versions 404 through 420 of thecontent segment 1 402. Further in the process each individual copy 404through 420 is differently watermarked as shown. For example, contentsegment 1 copy 404 is watermarked with number “0”, content segment copy1 405 is watermarked with number “1”, content segment copy 1 406 iswatermarked with number “2”, content segment 1 copy 407 is watermarkedwith number “3”, . . . , content segment 1 copy 420 is watermarked withnumber “F” (hexadecimal). Finally a set 422 of 16 watermarked versionsof the content segment 1 402 is formed as shown. The set 422 ofdifferently watermarked versions of the content segment 1 402 issupplied from the PMG 200 to a regional headend, e.g., headend 110.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart 500 of an exemplary method of operating acontent watermarking and distribution device, in accordance with anexemplary embodiment. The content watermarking and distribution deviceimplementing the method of flowchart 500 is, e.g., a packet mediagateway (PMG) device such as PMG 108 of system 200 of FIG. 2. For thepurpose of discussion, consider that the method of flowchart 500 isimplemented by the PMG 108.

The method of flowchart 500 shown in FIG. 5 starts in step 502, with thecontent watermarking and distribution device, e.g., PMG 108, beingpowered on and initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 502 tostep 504. In step 504 the PMG device 108 receives content from at leastone content supplier, e.g., which supply video content for distribution.It should be appreciated that the PMG device 108 may, and in manyembodiments does, receive content from a plurality of content suppliers.

Operation proceeds from step 504 to step 506. In step 506 the PMG device108 slices the received content into a plurality of segments, saidplurality of segments including a first segment, e.g., content segment 1402, and a second content segment, e.g., segment 2 403.

Operation proceeds from step 506 to step 508. In step 508, the PMGdevice 108 initiates a watermarking operation to watermark the contentsegments. As part of step 508, steps 509 through 516 are performed insome embodiments. In step 509, a counter is initialized and a countervalue “i” is set to 1, where “i” is a positive integer. The value “i” isused to identify a segment which is being processed at a given time. Theoperation proceeds to sub step 510 wherein a watermarking operation isperformed individually on each of the sliced content segmentscorresponding to the received content which are to be watermarked, e.g.,watermarking operation is performed on content segment[i] to generate atleast one set of watermarked versions of segment[i], said set includingmultiple watermarked versions of segment[i]. In some embodiments the PMG108 separately receives information regarding which content from of thereceived content is to be watermarked and which content is not to bewatermarked.

Thus in the first iteration (i=1), a watermarking operation is performedon content segment 1 (i=1) to generate at least one set, e.g., a firstset 422 corresponding to segment 1, of watermarked versions of thecontent segment 1 402, the first set including multiple watermarkedversions of content segment 1 402. To facilitate better understanding ofthe watermarking operation performed on content segments to generatesets of watermarked versions of the content segments, reference to FIG.4 example is made.

Operation proceeds from step 510 to step 512. In step 512 it isdetermined whether or not the last segment of the received content hasbeen processed, i.e., has undergone the watermarking operation. This isdone to ensure that each individual segment of the received content goesthrough the watermarking process to generate a corresponding set ofwatermarked versions of the content segment. If in step 512 it isdetermined that one or more individual segments of the content have notundergone the watermarking process, the operation proceeds to step 514.In step 514, the control value “i” is incremented, e.g., by 1, and theoperation proceeds from step 514 back to step 510. It should beappreciated that in doing so, the operation is controlled to proceed toperform watermarking operation on the next content segment. For example,in step 514, “i” is incremented so that the control value changes toi=2. Thus in the second iteration being performed in step 510, thewatermarking operation is performed on content segment [i=2], i.e.,content segment 2, to generate a second set of watermarked versions ofcontent segment 2. The operation continues in this manner until each ofthe content segments of the received content are processed, with adetermination being made in step 512 in every iteration to check if thelast segment has been processed. Thus, following the watermarkingoperation on the last content segment of the received content, e.g., atthe end of the N^(th) iteration in an example where the received contentis sliced into N content segments, the result of the determination madein step 512 shows that the last segment has been processed, and theoperation proceeds from step 512 to step 516.

In step 516, the PMG device 108 supplies watermarked sets of contentsegments, including first set 422, to different content distributionsystems, e.g., regional network headends corresponding to differentregions. An individual watermarked set of a content segment may includea plurality of sets of watermarked versions of the content segment.Furthermore a plurality of such sets of watermarked content segments maybe provided to one or more network headends. For example, watermarkedsets of content being supplied to a regional network headend, e.g.,headend 1 110, may include a set of watermarked versions of contentsegment 1 such as set 422, a set of watermarked versions of contentsegment 2, . . . , a set of watermarked versions of content segment K.In some embodiments step 518 includes performing steps 518 and 520. Instep 518 a first set of watermarked versions of the first contentsegment 1 402 is supplied to a first regional headend while in step 520a second set of watermarked versions of the second content segment 403is supplied to a second regional headend. Operation proceeds from step516 back to step 504 and continues in the similar manner for additionalreceived content.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary content delivery and distribution system600 implemented in accordance with the invention. The system 600supports the provisioning of content delivery services, as well as usercontent selection, notification of content availability, communicationof selected sequence of watermarked content to a user device, andbilling for content provided to customers in accordance with variousembodiments of the present invention. Exemplary system 600 includes atleast one regional service provider system, e.g., headend 601. Theheadend 601 can be implemented as the region 1 headend 110 of FIG. 1.The exemplary headend 601 corresponds to a first region, i.e., Region 1.A regional headend such as headend 601 provides services, e.g., contentdelivery services, via communications network 650, to a correspondingset of customer premises 122 through 124 and 632 through 638 whichcorrespond to the region serviced by the particular headed 601. Customerpremises 122 through 124 correspond to area 1 620 within region 1 whilecustomer premises 632 through 638 correspond to area T 630 within region1.

Each customer premise in a region may include one or more set top boxesin combination with a display device and/or one or more other types ofcontent playback devices. For example, customer premise 1 122 includes afirst set of equipment, e.g. user 1 set top box (STB) 622 in combinationwith display 624. STB 622 is shown coupled to display 624, which may andin some embodiments is, a television set to which the STB 622 iscoupled. However, it should be appreciated that the STB devices can beintegrated in a device which also includes the display 624. Similarlycustomer premise L includes a STB 626 coupled to a display device 628.The customer premise devices such as STBs 622, 626 are coupled to theheadend 601 via the communications network 650. The STB devices shown inthe example, e.g., STBs 622, 626, 634, . . . , 640 may, and often do,include Digital Video Recorder (DVR) functionality and storage forstoring user requested content.

Region 1 headend 601 includes a content server, e.g., video on-demand(VOD) server 602, a content store 603, a VOD application server 610, adatabase of information 614, and a billing system 616. The database 614includes a variety of information including customer accountinformation, e.g., customer name, address, STB identificationinformation, watermarked content related information, etc. The billingsystem 616 includes a billing management server and customer billinginformation database.

In some embodiments the content server 602 includes a broadcast fileserver (BFS) and a video on-demand (VOD) server. For the purpose ofdiscussion the server 602 will be referred to as the VOD server. The VODserver 602 provides content to one or more customer premises deviceseither in response to an on-demand request for content received vianetwork 650 from one or more customer premises shown in FIG. 6, or aspart of a content broadcast by server 602. As should be appreciated, asingle content server 602 is shown providing both broadcast and VODcontent but in many systems and embodiments this is done through the useof two servers each of which may have access to content store 603.

The various servers 602, 610, 616 in the network headend 601 are coupledtogether via a bus 618 over which they may interchange data andinformation. The bus 618 is coupled via a network input/output interfaceto communications network 650. Via the bus 618 and input/outputinterface 619 the devices in the headend can supply content to the fordelivery to various customer premise devices including STBs 622, 626,634, and 640 and receive content from the customer premise devices. I/Ointerface 619 includes a receiver circuit or module and a transmittercircuit or module allowing it to support bi-directional communication.

The communications network 650 can be, and in some embodiments is,implemented as a cable network. Communications links 652, 654, 656, 658traversing the service provider's cable network 650 couples set topboxes 622, 626, 634, and 640 to the region 1 headend's bus 618.

In various embodiments the headend 601 includes an interface forreceiving content including sets of watermarked content segments, e.g.,from the PMG 200. In some embodiments, the interface receives Nwatermarked versions of a first content segment 604, each of the Nwatermarked versions of the first content segment including a differentwatermark, N being a positive integer greater than 1, and receives Mwatermarked versions of a second content segment 606, each of the Mwatermarked versions of the second content segment including a differentwatermark, M being a positive integer greater than 1.

The content store 603 includes content received from the package mediagateway 200. The received content includes regular content, e.g., nonwatermarked content, as well as watermarked content segmentscorresponding to some other content. The content store 603 includes aplurality of sets of watermarked versions of content segments receivedfrom the PMG 200. The plurality of sets include content segment 1watermarked versions 1 to N 604, . . . , content segment K watermarkedversions 1 to Z 608. The delivery of video and/or other content may, andnormally is through VOD server 602, that may output the content in asuitable format that can be delivered over the communications network650 to one or more set top boxes. In accordance with one aspect of theinvention, in various embodiments the VOD sever 602 outputs a sequenceof watermarked content segments, e.g., corresponding to Video on Demandcontent, in response to a request for content. It should be appreciatedthat for N=16, the set 604 of content segment 1 watermarked versions 1to N is the similar to set 422 illustrated in the example of FIG. 4.

The VOD application server 610 interacts with the customer premisedevices, e.g., STBs 622, 626 and processes requests for content receivedfrom one or more STB devices corresponding to one or more customers. TheVOD application server 610 is responsible for generating a playlist 613defining a sequence of watermarked content segments to be supplied toone or more customers in response to a request for content from said oneor more customers. In accordance with one feature of various embodimentsthe playlist 613 defines which watermarked content segments (included inthe content store 603) that the VOD server 602 should stream out to acustomer who requested content, e.g., VOD content, by sending a requestfor content 1022 discussed later with regard to FIG. 10. Following thegeneration of the playlist 613, the VOD application server 610 passesthe playlist 613 off to the VOD server 602.

The VOD application server 610 generates transaction information 612which includes session identification information, e.g., session ID,corresponding to a session during which VOD content is supplied to acustomer. The transaction information 612 further includes informationregarding the supplied watermarked content segments corresponding to theVOD content being supplied. The transaction information may be generatedon a per session basis. The transaction information is then stored inthe database 614 over time to build up information regardingdescriptions that correlate to the content, e.g., watermark/sessioncorrelation data. Operations performed by the VOD application server 610are discussed in greater detail with regard to FIGS. 10 and 11.

Billing system 616 generates and processes billing informationcorresponding to region 1 customers, e.g., updating billing chargeinformation in response to video on demand purchases, upgrades, and/orother activity. Billing system 616 also processes bill paymentinformation, e.g., credit card transactions, deductions from debitaccounts, mail bills, and/or processes discount and/or couponinformation.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example 700 showing a part of the exemplaryheadend 601 in greater detail. In the example 700, the content storelocated at the headend 601 is illustrated in a more detailed manner. Asshown, the content store 603 includes a plurality of sets of watermarkedversions of content segments, e.g., one or more sets such as the set 422illustrated in FIG. 4. The content store 603 includes content segment 1watermarked versions 1 to N 604, content segment 2 watermarked versions1 to M 606, . . . , content segment K watermarked versions 1 to Z 608.In various embodiments N, M, K, and Z are positive integers.

As should be appreciated from FIG. 7, the set 604 includes N watermarkedversions of content segment 1 including S1 W1 702 (segment 1 with firstwatermark) through S1 W N 706 (segment 1 with a N^(th) watermark) eachcontent segment version having a different watermark. Similarly the set606 includes M watermarked versions of content segment 2 including S2 W1712 through S2 W M 716, while the set 608 includes Z watermarkedversions of content segment K including SK W1 722 through SK W Z 726,each content segment version in a given set having a differentwatermark.

The content store further includes one or more advertisements, e.g.,advertisement 1 730, advertisement 2 732, . . . , advertisement R 734.In accordance with one aspect of some embodiments of the invention, theheadend 601 uses watermarked versions of content segments correspondingto a plurality of content segments to generate a sequence of watermarkedcontent segments for supplying to one or more customers. In someembodiments the sequence of watermarked content segments is generated byinterlacing advertisements with watermarked versions of content segmentscorresponding to different sets of content segments. The advertisementsmay or may not be watermarked depending on embodiment. When advertisingand/or other segments introduced into the main program are notwatermarked they may be disregarded for purposes of determining asequence of numbers communicated by the sequential watermarked segmentsof the program.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart 800 of an exemplary content distributionmethod, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Theexemplary method of flowchart 800 can be implemented by a contentdistribution system such as a network headend. For the purpose ofdiscussion, consider that the method of flowchart 800 is implemented byregional network headend 601 shown in FIG. 6.

The method of flowchart 800 shown in FIG. 8 starts in step 802, with theheadend being initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 802 tosteps 804, 806, 808, 810 and 811 which are performed asynchronously insome embodiments and may be performed at different points in time.

In steps 804 through 808 it is illustrated that the headend 601 receivesone or more sets of watermarked versions of content segments from thepackage media gateway 200 in accordance with one feature of theinvention. In step 804 the headend 601 receives a first set 604 of Nwatermarked versions of a first content segment, each of the Nwatermarked versions of the first content segment including a differentwatermark. To facilitate understanding, an exemplary set 422 of 16watermarked versions of a first content segment 404 is illustrated inFIG. 4. In step 806 the headend 601 receives a second set 606 of Mwatermarked versions of a second content segment, each of the Mwatermarked versions of the second content segment including a differentwatermark. In various embodiments the first and second content segmentscorrespond to a movie or television program. As should be appreciated,while two segments are described for purposes of explaining theinvention, the movie or program in many cases would include manysegments, e.g., hundreds or even thousands depending on the segment sizeand duration of the movie or program.

Continuing in the same manner, in some embodiments the headend 601receives a plurality of sets of watermarked versions of contentsegments, and as illustrated in step 808 the headend 601 receives a set608, e.g., a K^(th) set of Z watermarked versions of a K^(th) contentsegment, each of the Z watermarked versions of the K^(th) contentsegment including a different watermark. In various embodiments N, M, K,and Z are positive integers.

In step 810, which occurs in parallel and independent of steps 804through 808, the headend 601 receives a request for content, e.g., froma set top box of a customer at a customer premise, e.g., such as STB622. The request for content in some embodiments is a request for videoon-demand content that the customer may wish to watch. In step 811, theheadend 601 determines an identifier to be communicated by a sequence ofwatermarked content segments. In accordance with one aspect theidentifier is determined as a function of on one or more differentfactors, e.g., such as time, geographic region to which a sequencewatermarked content segments is being provided, a set top boxidentifier, a user/customer identifier, a session identifiercorresponding to a communications session in which the sequencewatermarked content segments is being provided. The identifier is thenused in performing step 812 discussed below and as can be appreciatedfrom the figure, the determined identifier is an input to sub-step 816which is performed as part of the step 812.

Operation proceeds from steps 804, 806, 808, 810 and 811 to step 812. Instep 812, the headend 601 starts an operation to generate a playlist ofwatermarked content segments, e.g., such as generated playlist 613. Insome embodiments the playlist is generated by the VOD application server610 in the headend 601 and the generated playlist is transferred to theVOD server 602. In various embodiments the generated playlist defines asequence of content segments to be provided to a customer in response tothe request for content received in step 810. As part of step 812, steps814 through 822 are performed in some embodiments. In step 814, acounter is initialized and a counter value “i” is set to 1, where “i” isa positive integer. The value “i” is used to identify a correspondingcontent segment in a received set of watermarked content segments at agiven time. Following initialization of “i” in step 814 the operationproceeds to step 816. In step 816 a watermarked content segment[i] isselected from a corresponding set[i] of differently watermarked versionsof content segment[i]. In various embodiments the selection of aparticular watermarked content segment from a set including a pluralityof differently watermarked versions of an individual content segment ismade based on the determined identifier (step 811) which is an input tothe selection step 816. In some embodiments the identifier is determinedas a function of a time, and thus in some such embodiments the selectionof at least one watermarked segment from the corresponding set ofdifferently watermarked versions of an individual segment is made as afunction of a time.

For example consider a plurality of sets of watermarked content segmentssuch as sets 604 through 608 shown in FIG. 7 which are received by theheadend 601. In the first iteration i=1, in the selection step 816 awatermarked content segment is selected from N watermarked versions ofcontent segment 1 within the first set 604. The numerical value of theidentifier determined in step 811 controls which watermarked segment,out of the N watermarked versions of content segment 1, is selected fromthe first set 604. In this way the watermarked segment communicating theintended numerical value will be selected and output. Thus it should beappreciated that in various embodiments the selection of one or morewatermarked content segments to be included in a playlist defining thesequence of watermarked content segments to be provided in response tothe request for content, is made as a function of the numerical value ofthe identifier discussed in step 811.

Operation proceeds from step 816 to step 818 wherein the selectedsegment[i] is included in the playlist being generated, the playlistdefining the sequence of watermarked content segments to be provided inresponse to the request for content. In some embodiments the sequence ofwatermarked content segments communicates a plurality of at least Xwatermarked segments, X being a positive integer greater than 7. In someembodiments selection of at least one watermarked segment from saidcorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of the individualsegment is made as a function of a geographic region to which saidsequence of content segments is being provided, e.g., geographic regionwhere the customer sending the request for content is located. In someembodiments selection of at least one watermarked segment from saidcorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment is made as a function of an identifier corresponding to a settop box or user to which the request for content corresponds. In someembodiments selection of at least one watermarked segment from saidcorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment is made as a function of a session identifier corresponding to acommunications session in which the sequence of content segments iscommunicated, e.g., to the STB device that sent the request for content.In one embodiment selection of at least one watermarked segment from acorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of the individualsegment is made as a function of at least one of: i) time ii) ageographic region to which the sequence of content segments is beingprovided, iii) an identifier corresponding to a set top box or user towhich the request for content corresponds, iv) a session identifiercorresponding to a communications session in which said sequence ofcontent segments is communicated, or v) an identifier corresponding to aregional server, e.g., such as headend 601, distributing the sequence ofcontent segments.

The operation proceeds from step 818 to step 820. In step 820 thecounter value “i” is incremented, e.g., by 1, and the operation proceedsfrom step 820 to step 822. It should be appreciated that by incrementing“i”, the operation is controlled to proceed to select next watermarkedcontent segment from the next set of received content segments. In step822, a comparison is made between the current value of “i” and K whichis the total number of content segments received by the headend 601corresponding to a given content, to determine if the current value of iexceeds K. In the example of FIG. 8, sets corresponding to a total of Ksegments are received by the headend. Thus in step 822 it is determinedif i>K. If it is determined that i does not exceed K, the operationproceeds from step 822 back to step 816 and the headend continues toselect the next watermarked content segment from the next set ofreceived content segments, i.e., a watermarked content segment 2 (i=2)is selected from M watermarked versions of content segment 2 within thesecond set 606. Again the value of identifier determined in step 811may, and in some embodiments does, control which watermarked segment outof the M watermarked versions of content segment 2 from the second set606 is selected in the second iteration. The operation continues in thismanner until a watermarked content segment is selected from each of thereceived sets of watermarked content segments, to be included in theplaylist being generated. In the FIG. 8 example, the operation continuesin this manner till the end of K^(th) iteration. Accordingly, in thismanner a playlist of sequence of selected watermarked segments isgenerated.

If in step 822 it is determined that the current value of i exceeds K,the operation proceeds from step 822 to step 826 via connecting node A824. In step 826, the VOD server 602 at headend 601 provides, inresponse to the received request for content, a sequence of watermarkedcontent segments, e.g., to customer STB 622 that sent the request, inaccordance with the generated playlist of watermarked content segments.The generated playlist of watermarked content segments defines thesequence of content segments to be provided, e.g., streamed to thecustomer, the sequence of watermarked content segments communicates acorresponding sequence of watermarks providing information identifyingcontent supplied in response to the request for content. In variousembodiments the watermarks correspond to numerical values, the sequenceof content segments communicate a sequence of numerical valuescommunicated by the watermarks included in the watermarked contentsegments included in the sequence of content segments. The VOD server602 selects, for streaming, the watermarked content segments in theorder they occur in the playlist.

Examination of the streamed content, or copies of the streamed content,can be preformed to receiver the communicated sequence of numericalvalues conveyed by the sequence of watermarked segments. If a userbreaks copyright law or copy/use restrictions and distributes thecontent, the watermarked digits remain intact and can be used todetermine, e.g., the particular session that generated the video stream,transmitting organization, time, and other identifying information ofwhich session was recorded and illegally distributed.

In various embodiments step 828 is performed as part of the step 826 ofproviding the sequence of watermarked content segments. In step 828 theVOD server 602 transmits the sequence of watermarked content segments inaccordance with the generated playlist. Operation proceeds from step 826including step 828, to step 830. In step 830 the headend 601 stores,e.g., in the database 614, a record mapping a sequence of numericalvalues, communicated by the watermarks included in the sequence ofwatermarked content segments communicated in response to the request forcontent, to a session identifier corresponding to the request forcontent. In some embodiments the record is a record in a log maintainedby the video server 602 which supplied the sequence of content segmentsin response to request for content, e.g., on-demand video contentrequests. It should be appreciated that the identifier discussed in step811 is the sequence of numerical values communicated by the watermarksincluded in the sequence of watermarked content segments communicated.

In some embodiments the generating and transmitting steps are performedby a headend of a content distribution system which receives said Nwatermarked versions of the first content segment 604 and said Mwatermarked versions of the second content segment 606 from anothernetwork device. In some embodiments said another network device is apacket media gateway, e.g., PMG 108.

FIG. 9 is a drawing 900 illustrating the concept of slicing content,e.g., digital content 902 received from a content supplier intosections, into a plurality of digital content segments 902 through 910,and logically interlacing the content segments with advertising content,e.g., advertisements 912 through 920, and combining into a playlist ofcontent 935. Although not shown in FIG. 9 example, in some embodimentsthe sliced digital content segments are watermarked content segments.The playlist of content 935 including the content segments interlacedwith advertisements is stored in the content store 603 and is fed to theVOD server 602.

FIG. 10 illustrates a functional diagram 1000 illustrating somefunctions and/or operations performed by an exemplary VOD applicationserver 610 or one or more elements of the VOD application server 610, inaccordance with one embodiment. The exemplary VOD application server 610includes a system resource manager 1002, a session request processor1004, a metadata distribution server 1006 an I/O (input/output)interface 1008, and metadata 1010 associated with the watermarkedcontent segments received from the packet media gateway 300. The VODapplication server 610 may be coupled to the VOD server 602 as shown inthe FIG. 10 example.

In the illustrated example, a session setup request 1022 may be receivedfrom a user at a customer premise, e.g., through the customer's STBdevice. In one embodiment the Session Request Processor 1004 generates aunique multi-digit session number and records it to an external databasealong with the user identification information, asset number and timestamp. Additionally, the Session Request Processor 1004 allocates systemresources such as bandwidth, etc., from the System Resource Manager1002. The VOD application server 610 also builds information includingdescriptions that correlate to the content, e.g., watermark/sessioncorrelation data 615, and stores the data 615 in the database 614. Invarious embodiments a record of the watermark along with the useraccount information is stored in the database 614.

In accordance with one feature of various embodiments the VODapplication server 610 builds a playlist of which watermarked contentsegments the VOD server 602 should stream out to the customer whorequested the session initiation by sending a request for content 1022.Following the generation of the playlist the VOD application serverpasses the playlist off to the VOD server 602. In accordance with oneembodiment of the invention, the VOD server 602 is responsible forproviding, in response to a request for content, a sequence ofwatermarked content segments including one of said N watermarkedversions of the first content segment 604 and one of said M watermarkedversions of the second content segment 606, the sequence of watermarkedcontent segments communicating a corresponding sequence of watermarksproviding information identifying content supplied in response to therequest for content. The watermark/session correlation data 615 in someembodiments includes record mapping the sequence of numerical valuescommunicated by the watermarks included in the sequence of watermarkedcontent segments communicated in response to the request for content1022, to a session identifier corresponding to the request for content.

The metadata 1010 associated with watermarked content segments which arereceived by the headend 601 is received by the VOD application server610 from the PMG 200 through the I/O interface 1008 as shown using arrow1020. The metadata distribution server 1006 distributes metadata 1010associated with watermarked content segments to the clients (customerpremise devices such as STBs) receiving the watermarked content.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary VOD application server 1100 implementedin accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The exemplary VODapplication server 1100 can be used as the VOD application server 610illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 10. As illustrated, the VOD applicationserver 1100 includes a processor 1104, an I/O interface 1106 including areceiver 1108 and a transmitter 1110, and a memory 1112 coupled togetherby a bus 1109. Via the I/O interface 1106 the application server 1100can receive and/or send information including, e.g., messages,information, commands, signals etc. The I/O interface 1106 includes thereceiver 1108 which is responsible for receiving and processinginformation, e.g., session initiation request messages, request forcontent, metadata, and/or control signals. The transmitter module 1110is responsible for generating and sending signals and/or otherinformation. Both the receiver 1108 and transmitter 1110 may work underdirection of the processor 1104 which executes one or more of theroutines and/or modules included in memory 1112.

The memory 1112 includes application server control routines 1114 whichcontrol overall application server operation in accordance with theinvention. Control routines 1114 may operate in conjunction with variousmodules which are used to perform various functions. Modules included inthe memory 1112 include a communications module 1115, a system resourcemanagement module 1116, a session request processing module 1118, aplaylist generation module 1120, a metadata distribution module 1122,stored information 1124, and received metadata 1128.

The communications module 1115 includes communications routinesimplementing the communications protocols supported by the applicationserver 1100, to communicate with other devices. The session requestprocessing module 1118 is responsible for processing a received sessionsetup requests and requests for content such as request 1022, from auser at a customer premise, e.g., through the customer's STB device. Insome embodiments the session request processing module 1118 generates asession number including one or more digits and records it to a databasealong with the user identification information, asset number and timestamp. In some embodiments the session request processing module 1118facilitates allocation of system resources such as bandwidth, etc., byinteracting with the system resource management module 1116.

The VOD application server 1100 also generates information regardingdescriptions that correlate to the content, e.g., watermark/sessioncorrelation data. The information including the watermark/sessioncorrelation data may be stored in the memory 1112 or in a externaldatabase, e.g., database 614, that can be accessed by the VODapplication server 1100.

The playlist generation module 1120 generates a playlist of whichwatermarked content segments the VOD server 602 should stream out to thecustomer who requested the content by sending a request for content1022. In various embodiments the application server 1100 generates aplaylist 1130 of selected watermarked content segments, said playlist ofselected watermarked segments defining a sequence of content segments tobe provided in response to the request for content. The playlistgeneration module includes a selection module 1021 which is responsiblefor selecting watermarked content segments to be included in theplaylist in accordance with the invention. The processor 1104 incombination with the playlist generation module 1020 and selectionmodule 1021, performs the operation discussed with regard to step 812which includes steps 814, 816, 818, 820 and 822. In some embodiments thesequence of watermarked content segments (e.g., as defined by thegenerated playlist 1130) communicates a plurality of at least Xwatermarked segments, and the selection module 1021 is configured toselect each individual one of said X watermarked segments from a set ofdifferently watermarked versions of an individual segment beingselected.

Following the generation of the playlist, the VOD application server1100 passes the generated playlist 1130 off to the VOD server 602. TheVOD server 602 then provides, e.g., transmits to the customer STB device622 that requested content, the sequence of content segments inaccordance with the playlist 1130.

Received metadata 1128 corresponds to the metadata 1010 associated withthe watermarked content segments received from the packet media gateway300 as discussed in FIG. 10. The metadata distribution module 1122distributes metadata 1128 associated with watermarked content segmentsto the clients (customer premise devices such as STB 622) receiving thewatermarked content.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary playlist 1200 of watermarked contentsegments generated in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.The playlist defines a sequence of content segments with insertedwatermarks that are selected based upon, e.g., the correspondence to adigit in a session identifier in one embodiment. Each digital contentsegment may have a plurality of copies of itself, e.g., 16 copies insome embodiments which are stored in a content store of a headend, witheach copy having a different watermark. The application server 1100(610) is responsible for selecting a correctly numbered (watermarked)content segment from the content store 603 and put it in a correctorder/slot in the playlist 1200.

The playlist 1200 defines a selected sequence of watermarked contentsegments corresponding to some content, e.g., a movie or some otherprogram. The steps involved in the generation of such a playlist havebeen discussed in detail in the flowchart 800 of FIG. 8. It should beappreciated that the playlist defines the sequence of watermarkedcontent segments but does not include the actual content segmentsthemselves. In various embodiments each watermarked content segmentincludes at least one watermark.

As shown, the exemplary playlist 1200 defines a sequence 1202 ofselected watermarked content segments of content, e.g., a program,producing a numerical sequence “483”. The watermarks correspond tonumerical values, the sequence of watermarked content segmentscommunicate a sequence of numerical values communicated by thewatermarks included in the watermarked content segments included in thesequence of watermarked content segments. Thus in the example of FIG. 12the playlist 1200 defines a first sequence 1202 of watermarked contentsegments including content segment 1 watermarked with 4, content segment2 watermarked with 8 and content segment 3 watermarked with 3.

In some embodiments the numerical sequence communicated by thewatermarks included in the watermarked content segments, such as thesequence “483” in this particular example represents the session number(e.g., session ID) in which the watermarked sequence of content segmentsis communicated, and/or any information that is desired. It should beappreciated that the session ID is only an example and other types ofinformation desired may be used such as the ID of theorganization/content provider streaming the content, the geographic areathe content is streamed to, a time stamp of when the was streamed etc.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary table 1300 including informationregarding the time when content is streamed to, e.g., a plurality ofcustomers, and information associated with the customers to whom thecontent is streamed, e.g., customer account and/or device information.

Each entry in column 1302 of table 1300 identifies date and time whensome particular content is streamed to a customer corresponding to abilling account number identified by the corresponding entry in column1304. Each entry in Column 1306 identifies the MAC address of thecustomer equipment, e.g., customer set top box, to which the content isstreamed. Each entry in column 1308 indicates a session numbercorresponding to a communications session in which the content isstreamed. Each entry in column 1310 indicates an asset identifier whichidentifies the particular content, e.g., program, being streamed. Forexample, consider the first row 1312 of table 1300 which includes firstentry from each of the column in the table 1300. The informationcorresponding in row 1312 indicates that some content identified byasset ID “80305” is streamed on date Dec. 24, 2010, time 21:01:46 hoursto a customer with billing account number “26012411455” whose set topbox MAC address is “00:19:47:FF:1D:2E” in a communications sessionidentified by session number “8675967439562”. The table may be generatedas part of the normal process of tracking and billing for VOD sessions.One or more of the values in table 13 may, and in some embodiments are,encoded in the streamed content corresponding to a VOD session and usedto identify a copy of the streamed content should a copy be made anddistributed. For example, time/date, billing account number, MACaddress, session number and/or asset ID shown in row 1312 may beembedded using watermarks in the session identified by the sessionnumber in row 1312. Table 1300 may, and in some embodiments is, storedand subsequently used in combination with numbers communicated viawatermarks, to match content to the session from which the content wascopied.

FIG. 14 illustrates a table 1400 which may be used to match particulardistributors, areas and times to numerical values which can becommunicated using watermarks. Column 1402 lists the operator, column1404 lists the area identifier and column 1406 lists the time. Number1408 which may be communicated using a watermark, is used to as valuewhich correlates to, and thus communicates, the set of informationincluded in the first three columns of the corresponding row. As can beappreciated, the level of information communicated using a table such asshown in FIG. 14 is much courser than that which is communicated in theFIG. 13 embodiment but still provides a fair amount of usefulinformation.

An exemplary content distribution method in accordance with someembodiments comprises: receiving N watermarked versions of a firstcontent segment, each of the N watermarked versions of the first contentsegment including a different watermark, N being a positive integergreater than 1; receiving M watermarked versions of a second contentsegment, each of the M watermarked versions of the second contentsegment including a different watermark, M being a positive integergreater than 1; and providing, in response to a request for content, asequence of watermarked content segments including one of said Nwatermarked versions of the first content segment and one of said Mwatermarked versions of the second content segment, the sequence ofwatermarked content segments communicating a corresponding sequence ofwatermarks providing information identifying content supplied inresponse to said request for content.

In some embodiments the first and second content segments correspond toa movie or television program. In some embodiments the watermarkscorrespond to numerical values, said sequence of watermarked contentsegments communicating a sequence of numerical values communicated bythe watermarks included in the watermarked content segments included insaid sequence of watermarked content segments.

In some embodiments the content distribution method further comprisesstoring a record mapping the sequence of numerical values communicatedby the watermarks included in the sequence of watermarked contentsegments communicated in response to said request for content, to asession identifier corresponding to said request for content. In someembodiments the record is a record in a log maintained by a video serverwhich supplied content in response to on-demand video content requests.In some embodiments the sequence of watermarked content segmentscommunicates a plurality of at least X watermarked segments, X being apositive integer greater than 7. In some such embodiments the furthercomprises selecting each individual one of said X watermarked segmentsfrom a set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment being selected.

In some embodiments selection of at least one watermarked segment fromsaid corresponding set of differently watermarked versions of saidindividual segment is made as a function of a time. In some embodimentsselection of at least one watermarked segment from said correspondingset of differently watermarked versions of said individual segment ismade as a function of a geographic region to which said sequence ofcontent segments is being provided. In some embodiments, selection of atleast one watermarked segment from said corresponding set of differentlywatermarked versions of said individual segment is made as a function ofan identifier corresponding to a set top box or user to which therequest for content corresponds. In some embodiments selection of atleast one watermarked segment from said corresponding set of differentlywatermarked versions of said individual segment is made as a function ofa session identifier corresponding to a communications session in whichsaid sequence of content segments is communicated.

In some embodiments selection of at least one watermarked segment from acorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment is made as a function of at least one of: i) a time; ii) ageographic region to which said sequence of content segments is beingprovided; iii) an identifier corresponding to a set top box or user towhich the request for content corresponds; iv) a session identifiercorresponding to a communications session in which said sequence ofcontent segments is communicated; or v) an identifier corresponding to aregional server distributing said sequence of content segments.

In some embodiments, prior to providing a sequence of watermarkedcontent segments in response to a request for content, the methodincludes generating a playlist of selected watermarked content segments,said playlist of selected watermarked content segments defining thesequence of watermarked content segments to be provided in response tosaid request for content; and transmitting said sequence of watermarkedcontent segments in accordance with the generated playlist.

In various embodiments, generating and transmitting steps are performedby a headend, e.g., region 1 headend 110, of a content distributionsystem which receives said N watermarked versions of the first contentsegment and said M watermarked versions of the second content segmentfrom another network device. In some embodiments the another networkdevice is a content watermarking and distribution device such as the PMG108 coupled to a plurality of regional content distribution systems.

An exemplary method of operating an exemplary content watermarking anddistribution device in accordance with some embodiments of the inventioncomprises: receiving content from a content supplier; slicing thereceived content into a plurality of segments, said plurality ofsegments including a first content segment and a second content segment;perform a watermarking operation on said first content segment togenerate N watermarked versions of said first content segment; andperform a watermarking operation on said second content segment togenerate M watermarked versions of said second content segment. Invarious embodiments the another network device is a package mediagateway, e.g., PMG 108. In some embodiments the method of operating theexemplary content watermarking and distribution device includesoperating the package media gateway to supply differently watermarkedsets of said first and second content segments to different regionalcontent distribution systems.

Numerous variations on the above described methods and apparatus arepossible and within the scope of the invention.

For example, in a particular embodiment, a video is sliced atpredetermined points such that it is sectioned into a desired number ofslices. Each slice, i.e., segment, is then copied 16 times. Note thatthis is just an example and that as many or few segments that are neededor copied may be used. The size of the segment is also an example and isnot intended to be limiting. The size may be several seconds, severalminutes, or a fraction of the content, e.g., program, depending on thewatermarking technology used. For instance, if an encoding scheme isavailable to provide 100 unique marks, 100 copies could be used.

Of the 16 exemplary copies, in the particular exemplary embodimentseparate copies (0 through 15) are individually watermarked with aunique digit from the pool of hexadecimal values spanning 0 through0x0F. Assuming R segments were produced from the content, the copyingwill produce R×16 copies that will be stored. Thus, each segment in theexample generates a set of 16 copies and each having a unique numberfrom 0 to 0xF hexadecimal, which is communicated by the watermarkintroduced into the particular copy.

Note that the use of a single watermarking mechanism in the exemplaryembodiment does not preclude the use of multiple watermarking mechanismsin order to encode more detailed information such as the region andcompany that distributed the content, and such information may bewatermarked along the entirety of the content and the session number maybe watermarked only on the segments.

When a VOD session is set up or content transferred, in the exemplaryembodiment there is an identifier involved. In one embodiment, theidentifier is R digits long. Each sequential segment of content that hasbeen watermarked represents temporally spaced information. Thus,starting with the most significant digit of the identifier, e.g. toencode 0xA 0xC, the first slice of the content with the watermark 0xA onit will be placed in the playlist defining the watermarked contentsegments to be supplied first followed by the second slice of thecontent containing the watermark 0xC. Attention then goes to theinsertion point of the next number and the next slice. In this case, thecopy of the third slice with the third digit of the session identifieris inserted into the play list. This continues until all digits and allslices are accounted for.

In another embodiment, the content is only watermarked to containinformation describing the geographic location distributed to and a datecode. This approach has an advantage in terms of system efficiency inthat a single playlist may be generated per region per period of time.The update time of the date code on the content can vary so that thegranularity of users becomes finer or coarser depending on what ispreferred and/or system loading.

When the playlist is transferred to a VOD server which is part of thestreaming apparatus responsible for streaming the content, the VODserver will respond by selecting the content segments in the order theyoccur in the playlist. Thus, when the segments that are watermarkedpass, the receiver may decode the digits. If a user breaks copyright lawand stores the content to a disk as one video file, the watermarkeddigits remain intact and can be used to determine the particular sessionthat generated the video stream, transmitting organization, time, andother identifying information of which session was recorded andillegally distributed.

It should be appreciated that all segments of a program need not bewatermarked. In addition advertisements and/or other segments can beintroduced between segments of the requested content. The introducedsegments may communicate numbers using watermarks in accordance with thepresent invention or may be disregarded when recovering a sequencecommunicated by a set of watermarked segments communicated by therequested content.

In some embodiments the identifier communicated by the sequence ofwatermarked segments is repeated throughout the program or movie. Thus,copying of even a small portion of the program, e.g., 30 seconds worth,tends to result in enough watermarked frames being copied to allowaccurate identification of the session and/or original destinationdevice to which the copied content was originally sent.

While the methods and apparatus of the present invention have beendescribed in the context of video streaming, they can be applied toaudio streaming as well. In the case of audio streaming the watermarkedsegments would be, e.g., short audio segments. While described in thecontext of a video on-demand system, it should be appreciated that themethods and apparatus of the present invention are not limited to thedelivery of video content and can be used to support delivery of audiocontent and/or other types of information content which may be requestedby a CP (customer premise) device.

While the methods and apparatus of the present invention are well suitedfor generating watermarks for prerecorded content, e.g., movies and/orother content from a on-demand content library, the techniques can alsobe used with real time broadcasts, e.g., broadcasts which aretransmitted while the original live event is still ongoing. In the caseof real time broadcasts the real time broadcasts are often transmittedwith some previously recorded content being inserted between portions ofthe real time broadcast and/or portions of the images included in thereal time broadcast being generated from previously recorded content.For example, pre-recorded advertisements or logos may, and in someembodiments are, inserted into the real time broadcasts. In oneparticular embodiment, in which the digital content segments of FIG. 9correspond to real time content, the Advertisements in the generatedplaylist are selected from sets of differently watermarked advertisementsegments which were generated prior to the real time broadcast. Thus insuch an embodiment, in the generated playlist 935 Advertisement 1 isselected from N differently watermarked versions of advertisement 1.Similarly Advertisement 2 is selected from a plurality of differentlywatermarked versions of Advertisement 2 with the sequence of valueindicated by the watermarks of the included Advertisement segmentsidentifying the particular content stream.

Thus, in accordance with the invention, in some embodiments a particularadvertisement, logo and/or other pre-recorded content to be combinedwith the real time content is watermarked to generate multipledifferently watermarked versions of an advertisement or logo, e.g., withthe different watermarked versions communicating different numbers. Theprerecorded watermarked content, e.g., advertisements and/or logos, iscombined with the real time broadcast.

By selecting which copy of a watermarked logo or image is combined withthe real time content, the previously generated watermark isincorporated into one or more real time images. The sequence ofwatermarks coveys a number or other identification information whichidentifies the real time content broadcast on a per stream basis withouthaving to generate the watermarks for each of the different streams inreal time. Thus, by using conventional advertisement and/or logoinsertion techniques and a plurality of differently watermarked versionsof advertisements or logos to be inserted, watermarking of real timecontent streams is possible using the methods of the present inventionwithout having to provide the ability to generate watermarks in realtime.

While it is possible to watermark each frame or image of a contentstream, it should be appreciated that it is not necessary to do so andthat including watermarks in a subset of the images or frames issatisfactory in many implementations. The number of different watermarksgenerated for each frame or segment can vary and need not be the samefor an entire program. Furthermore different portions of a contentstream can communicate different watermark sequences. For example,advertisements within a broadcast represented in the form of playlist935 may communicate one sequence of watermarks while the main program(Digital Content segments of playlist 935) may communicate a differentsequence of watermarks. Thus, it should be appreciated that differentsets of frames and/or images may be treated as corresponding to orcommunicating different sets or sequences of watermarked values. Thisconcept can be extended so that different subsets of imagescorresponding to a program, can communicate different number sequencesor sets of watermarked information. In accordance with the invention,the regional distribution systems store information on which images of aprogram correspond to which sequence of watermarks so that the sequenceof values communicated by frames and/or images in a program can beproperly reconstructed despite the frames or images being spread out inan image and/or interlaced with frames or images corresponding to adifferent watermark sequence.

The sequence of values communicated by the selection and inclusion ofwatermarked versions of a frame or image may repeat within a program sothat all or a portion of a identification sequence communicated throughthe use of watermarks may be conveyed using relatively few frames and/orcan be repeated multiple times throughout a program or other piece ofstreamed content.

In various embodiments system elements described herein are implementedusing one or more modules which are used to perform the stepscorresponding to one or more methods of the present invention, forexample, receiving a user input indicating a request to record content,receiving N watermarked versions of a first content segment, each of theN watermarked versions of the first content segment including adifferent watermark, N being a positive integer greater than 1;receiving M watermarked versions of a second content segment, each ofthe M watermarked versions of the second content segment including adifferent watermark, M being a positive integer greater than 1; andproviding, in response to the request for content, a sequence ofwatermarked content segments including one of said N watermarkedversions of the first content segment and one of said M watermarkedversions of the second content segment, the sequence of watermarkedcontent segments communicating a corresponding sequence of watermarksproviding information identifying content supplied in response to saidrequest for content, etc. Each step may be performed by one or moredifferent software instructions executed by a computer processor, e.g.,a central processing unit (CPU).

At least one system implemented in accordance with the present inventionincludes a means for implementing each of the various steps which arepart of the methods of the present invention. Each means may be, e.g.,an instruction, processor, hardware circuit and/or combination ofelements used to implement a described step.

Many of the above described methods or method steps can be implementedusing machine, e.g., computer, executable instructions, such assoftware, included in a non-transitory machine, e.g., computer, readablemedium used to control a machine, e.g., general purpose computer with orwithout additional hardware, to implement all or portions of the abovedescribed methods, e.g., in one or more nodes. The machine readablemedium may be, e.g., a memory device, e.g., RAM, floppy disk, etc.Accordingly, among other things, the present invention is directed to anon-transitory machine, e.g., computer, readable medium includingmachine executable instructions for causing a machine, e.g., processorand associated hardware, to perform one or more of the steps of theabove-described method(s).

Numerous additional embodiments, within the scope of the presentinvention, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art inview of the above description and the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A content distribution method, the methodcomprising: receiving N watermarked versions of a first content segment,each of the N watermarked versions of the first content segmentincluding a different watermark, N being a positive integer greater than1; receiving M watermarked versions of a second content segment, each ofthe M watermarked versions of the second content segment including adifferent watermark, M being a positive integer greater than 1;receiving a session set up request from a customer premise devicerequesting content, said session set up request being a request forcontent; generating a multi-bit session identifier in response to saidsession set up request; generating a playlist of watermarked contentsegments corresponding to the requested content as a function of saidmulti-bit session identifier, said watermarked content segments in saidplaylist communicating at least said multi-bit session identifier; andoperating a video on demand server to generate a sequence of watermarkedcontent segments in accordance with said playlist, said sequence ofwatermarked content segments including one of said N watermarkedversions of the first content segment and one of said M watermarkedversions of the second content segment, the sequence of watermarkedcontent segments communicating said multi-bit session identifier withthe requested content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said playlistis a list of segments which are to be sequentially transmitted inaccordance with the playlist to said customer premise device to providethe requested content; and wherein said first and second contentsegments correspond to a movie or television program.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said watermarks correspond to numerical values, saidsequence of watermarked content segments communicating a sequence ofnumerical values communicated by the watermarks included in thewatermarked content segments included in said sequence of watermarkedcontent segments.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storingin a record the session identifier corresponding to said request forcontent along with billing account number information.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein said record is a record in a log generated by a videoserver which supplied content in response to on-demand video contentrequests, said log including records corresponding to multiple differentsessions, different records including different multi-bit sessionidentifiers.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of generating aplaylist of watermarked content segments includes: selecting at leastsome of said watermarked segments from a set of differently watermarkedversions of an individual segment as a function of time, said segmentsin the playlist communicating time information in addition to saidmulti-bit session identifier.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein themethod includes: selecting for inclusion in said playlist at least onewatermarked segment from said corresponding set of differentlywatermarked versions of said individual segment as a function of a date.8. The method of claim 6, wherein the method includes: selecting forinclusion in said playlist at least one watermarked segment from saidcorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment as a function of a geographic region to which said sequence ofcontent segments is being provided.
 9. The method of claim 6, whereinthe method includes: selecting for inclusion in said playlist at leastone watermarked segment from said corresponding set of differentlywatermarked versions of said individual segment as a function of anidentifier corresponding to a set top box or user to which the requestfor content corresponds.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein the methodincludes: selecting for inclusion in said playlist at least onewatermarked segment from said corresponding set of differentlywatermarked versions of said individual segment as a function of anaddress of a device from which said request for content was received.11. The method of claim 6, wherein the method includes: selecting forinclusion in said playlist at least one watermarked segment from acorresponding set of differently watermarked versions of said individualsegment based on at least one of: i) a time; ii) a geographic region towhich said sequence of content segments is being provided; iii) anidentifier corresponding to a set top box or user to which the requestfor content corresponds; iv) a session identifier corresponding to acommunications session in which said sequence of content segments iscommunicated; or v) an identifier corresponding to a regional serverdistributing said sequence of content segments.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein said step of generating a playlist is performed by a firstdevice which is a different device from said video on demand server, themethod further comprising: communicating said generated playlist fromthe first device to said video on demand server.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein said generating and transmitting steps are performed by aheadend of a content distribution system which includes said firstdevice and said video on demand server, the headend receiving said Nwatermarked versions of the first content segment and said M watermarkedversions of the second content segment from another network device. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein said another network device is a contentwatermarking and distribution device coupled to a plurality of regionalcontent distribution systems, the method further comprising operatingsaid content watermarking and distribution device to: receive contentfrom a content supplier; slice the received content into a plurality ofsegments, said plurality of segments including said first contentsegment and said second content segment; perform a watermarkingoperation on said first content segment to generate said N watermarkedversions of said first content segment; and perform a watermarkingoperation on said second content segment to generate said M watermarkedversions of said second content segment.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein said another network device is a package media gateway, themethod further comprising: operating said package media gateway tosupply differently watermarked sets of said first and second contentsegments to different regional content distribution systems.
 16. Acontent distribution system, comprising: a video on demand server withaccess to N watermarked versions of a first content segment, each of theN watermarked versions of the first content segment including adifferent watermark, N being a positive integer greater than 1, and forreceiving M watermarked versions of a second content segment, each ofthe M watermarked versions of the second content segment including adifferent watermark, M being a positive integer greater than 1; anapplication server configured to: receive a session set up request froma customer premise device requesting content, said session set uprequest being a request for content; generate a multi-bit sessionidentifier in response to said session set up request; generate aplaylist of watermarked content segments corresponding to the requestedcontent as a function of said multi-bit session identifier saidwatermarked content segments in said playlist communicating at leastsaid multi-bit session identifier; supply said playlist to said video ondemand server; and wherein said application server is further configuredto generate a sequence of watermarked content segments in accordancewith said playlist, said sequence of watermarked content segmentsincluding one of said N watermarked versions of the first contentsegment and one of said M watermarked versions of the second contentsegment, the sequence of watermarked content segments communicating saidmulti-bit session identifier.
 17. The content distribution system ofclaim 16, wherein said watermarks correspond to numerical values, saidsequence of watermarked content segments communicating a sequence ofnumerical values communicated by the watermarks indicating a time inaddition to said multi-bit session identifier.
 18. The contentdistribution system of claim 17, further comprising: memory for storinga record mapping said session identifier to an identifier of a userdevice and an identifier of the content which was streamed.
 19. Thecontent distribution system of claim 16, wherein said sequence ofwatermarked content segments communicates a plurality of at least Xwatermarked segments, X being a positive integer greater than 7; andwherein said content distribution apparatus further comprises: means forselecting each individual one of said X watermarked segments from a setof differently watermarked versions of said individual segment beingselected.
 20. The content distribution system of claim 19, wherein saidapplication server is configured to select at least one watermarkedsegment from a corresponding set of differently watermarked versions ofsaid individual segment as a function of a geographic region to whichsaid sequence of content segments is being provided.